Conservation Notes

The Connecticut Farmland Trust is holding its annual Celebration of
Connecticut Farms on September 13 at Graywall Farms, Lebanon,

CT. For information on this event, where one can taste the products of Connecticut's farms cooked by some of the State's best chefs, see

http://www.ctfarmland.org/basic.php?page=events .

We hope to arrange a tour for club members of Yale's Sustainable Food Project farm in the Fall, and will alert members via e-mail.

For those of you unable to attend the April 7 "Grow Local, Buy Local, EatLocal -- Start with your Soil" event, I offer two "take away points" from Bill Duesing's speech on soil:

(1) Don't till. The less one disturbs the soil the better, as this destroys micro-organisms critical to soil health.

(2) Leave the leaves. A study shows that decomposed

leaves are equal to fertilizer for plant growth, and adding a small amount of fertilizer to the decomposed leaves gives even better growth.

If you want a copy of the Conservation Committee's "Where to Buy or Eat Local Agricultural Products in New Haven County, Connecticut," which was distributed at the meeting, contact Marty Dauwalder at

davidandmarty@dauwalder.netor (203) 535-1149. She will e-mail you a digital copy at no cost or, if you prefer, she will print and send you a copy for $8.00. It is a great resource for finding locally produced food.

Finally I want to thank all who helped with the April 7 event: Cordalie Benoit, Louise Carter, Marty Dauwalder, Nancy Deuble, Debbie Edwards, Susan Ehrenkranz, Anne Marie Gilbert, Katharine Goodbody, Pamela Hamilton, Billie Ladd, and Debby Moore.

Enjoy the summer and the delicious locally grown fruits and vegetables
summer brings.

Mikey Hirschoff
Conservation Chair